{"id":8655,"date":"2015-04-14T10:00:36","date_gmt":"2015-04-14T15:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/?p=8655"},"modified":"2025-05-12T16:04:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T21:04:39","slug":"wp-engine-helps-startups-sites-survive-shark-tank-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/wp-engine-helps-startups-sites-survive-shark-tank-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"WP Engine Helps Startups\u2019 Sites Survive The Shark Tank Effect"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Shark Tank<\/a> Effect is real. When a growing business appears on the popular ABC reality show, success can be swift. For most Shark Tank companies, their site floods with traffic during the show\u2019s airing. And for weeks after, the ripple effect of traffic persists.<\/p>\n

Having a site that can\u2019t withstand a massive Shark Tank-induced traffic spike could be catastrophic, resulting in reputation damage and lost revenue. It\u2019s imperative, before appearing on the show, that your website is up to snuff and can handle whatever traffic the show draws.<\/p>\n

At WP Engine, we help our customers prepare for the Shark Tank Effect by working with them to ensure their WordPress sites can handle the influx of visitors. They tap our WordPress expertise and our managed hosting platform for WordPress to guarantee Shark Tank success on the web.<\/p>\n

WP Engine customer Fresh Patch<\/a> appeared on Shark Tank in February. Fresh Patch produces, sells, and ships small patches made of real grass for indoor dog potty training. The product was an instant hit on the show.<\/p>\n

According to Fresh Patch founder Andrew Feld, traffic to the Fresh Patch site grew to 44,000 visitors the day the company\u2019s Shark Tank appearance aired. At one point, there were 14,000 concurrent visitors. The show generated 1.1 million server requests.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really busy, non-stop traffic,\u201d Feld said, noting that Shark Tank put its product and brand in front of a new audience. There was little warning when the show would air, so getting the Fresh Patch website ready required fast work. \u201cWhen you get that exposure, you don\u2019t want your site to go down,\u201d Feld added.<\/p>\n

Feld said his inbox was flooded with orders, it seemed like a new order came in every minute. The day after the show aired, 20,000 visitors came to the site. Weeks later, it plateaued at around 2,000 \u2013 a major increase over the average of 400 to 500 visitors per day before Fresh Patch\u2019s Shark Tank segment aired.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly important that our site stayed up,\u201d Feld said.<\/p>\n

Another WP Engine customer, FunBites<\/a>, also had the luck of Shark Tank on its side. FunBites makes tools to help moms create fun-shaped bite-sized pieces out of kids’ food. According to Ed Rhoads, who\u2019s wife Bobbie founded FunBites, the company didn\u2019t know what to expect as it prepared for its Shark Tank appearance.<\/p>\n

FunBites\u2019 website had never experienced the traffic levels the Shark Tank appearance sent its way. The night of the show, Rhoads tapped WP Engine\u2019s expertise to scale the website with extra web servers to accommodate the anticipated traffic spike.<\/p>\n

The FunBites website saw roughly 70,000 page views during the Shark Tank airing, mostly in a span of about 10 minutes. Rhoads said if they had not been prepared, the site would\u2019ve crashed under that load.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last thing we wanted was people saying \u2018I just went [to FunBites.com] and it crashed,\u2019\u201d Rhoads said.<\/p>\n

Working with WP Engine, FunBites\u2019 Shark Tank appearance was a success – the company even walked away with a deal from the sharks.<\/p>\n

Fresh Patch\u2019s Feld also struck a deal with the sharks to help grow his business.<\/p>\n

Feld said he\u2019s thankful that he trusted WP Engine to help get the Fresh Patch site ready for the Shark Tank Effect. He said he tapped WP Engine\u2019s expertise because they\u2019re WordPress specialists and he and his small team wouldn\u2019t have known how to fortify the servers to preserve uptime.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout working with WP Engine and making sure our site could handle those volumes, our site could\u2019ve crashed and we would\u2019ve missed out on all of those orders,\u201d Feld said. \u201cYou only have one shot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Shark Tank Effect is real. When a growing business appears on the popular ABC reality show, success can be swift. For most Shark Tank companies, their site floods with traffic during the show\u2019s airing. And for weeks after, the ripple effect of traffic persists. Having a site that can\u2019t withstand a massive Shark Tank-induced…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":8656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[372,496],"tags":[366,398],"class_list":["post-8655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-announcement","category-customer-spotlight","tag-customer","tag-shark-tank"],"yoast_head":"\nWP Engine Helps Startups\u2019 Sites Survive The Shark Tank Effect | WP Engine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"WP Engine helps startups' sites survive the Shark Tank Effect. 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